The good, the bad, the ugly….

SOCIAL MEDIA…. we hear about it,we see it and we experience it everyday. But do we really know how it effects us when we are out in the community looking for a job? There are many benefits and pitfalls of social media and to know them is very important so that you can be sure that you are being “socially smart”.

BENEFITS:

Candidate quality — those who frequently use social networks may be more desirable to employers. Employers like to be able to see future employees past work and in a field like PR, social networking is CRUCIAL.

Higher offer acceptance rates — using social networks to attract and communicate with employers may result inmore job offers because of your availability to them.

Rate of response —Using social networks to communicate may result in higher response rates and/or in more immediate responses when you send messages to prospects and candidates because the internet is right there in front of employers, well, ALL THE TIME.

Competitive advantage — using social networks may provide you with a competitive advantage over other competitors because employers are able to see you before they are able to see someone else face to face.

This website gives jobseekers a list of “Social Media” To Do’s, it is an AWESOME site and I recommend it to anyone looking for a job or is about to be looking for one!

PITFALLS:

Some employees are posting pictures and other things that their employers are finding and are not happy about. Some employess are even getting fired for these social media mistakes.

Some employees are being too open about how they feel about their jobs or are announcing getting hired by another company before they quit their current job. These things are giving social media sites a bad rep and are damaging employees reputations.

I found this list of 10 tweets that are most likely to get you fired and I thought it was hilarious!

1. “hate my job!! i want to tell my bosses how dumb they are and how meaningless this job is, then quit, and be happy!”

2. “So my job was to test all the food at the new resturant, can I just say, ughew. I’m going to taco bell then twistee treat.”

3. “Workin… This job sucks worse then the economy!”

4. “I’m going to work! Walmart! Must find better job! I hate it when chicks there have a deeper voice than me and refer to me as foo!”

5. “Also I’m really bummed that I’m working today, i asked off so i could study but my boss is a ******* **** ***** ***** who can’t read.”

6. “Coworker smuggled out a chair for me. Currently being paid to SIT around and listen to John Barrowman on my iPod. I don’t hate my job today!”

7. “having sex dreams of people you work with makes for an awkward day.”

8. “smoking weed at work is so [EDITED] great :)”

9. “It’s bad when you overhear the n00b programmer say “I used to work at McDonalds with him” and you wonder if he is talking about the CEO…”

10. “Huh, with my boss on twitter, maaaybe I should take down that sexy picture of her… but her reaction will be priceless!”

Overall, I find that there are many more benefits than there are pitfalls when it comes to social media and the ways that jobseeker can use it to their advantage. The most important thing to be aware of is making sure that the information you are putting out into the world wide web are things that you would not be embarrassed about if your parents, grandparents and most importantly your EMPLOYER saw.